"I've been meaning to ask, Rowan. Um... how did your Hell... Go?"
Rowan could tell what he meant, even though he didn't say it out loud. 'How come you're all alone?' It was the obvious question, considering Rowan had mentioned his teammates but was now all alone.
"Four of us went in, three of us came out. We got attacked by some kind of flock of ravens, likely a swarm of beasts, and we had to split up. My teammates fled in one direction while I distracted the birds, because of my regeneration. I fled towards a Hell, and entered it before the ravens could eat me. That's how I ended up with my warmth skill, by the way.
I cleared it, and ended up in a field near the city of Tralee. I went straight south and came here. Oh, I also saw a stone drake on the way, those things are pretty terrifying."
He chuckled as he said the last part, because Gid's mouth dropped wide open comically.
"...Jeez, you're a cool dude, Rowan. Doing all of this on your first expedition? You're probably going to be one of the best awakened this month, maybe even competing with Reggie for the best of this year!"
"Reggie? I don't really know a lot about awakeners. What did he do to get that title?"
"Well, he somehow managed to get three whole skills while he was returning home, and he wasn't even out that long! Everyone's calling him a prodigy, saying he's likely to be the first person to reach the fifth tier."
'Three whole skills, huh... If they were all like the barren fields, then I could likely do the same. The biggest problem is trying to find that many, and getting lucky enough to clear them quickly.'
Without realising it, Rowan was comparing himself to Reggie, wondering how he compared to the supposed prodigy.
"What happens when we get back, anyway? I became an awakened to avoid living in the complex, so is there anything we get? Like housing, or supplies?"
Gid thought for a moment before replying.
"Well, if you work for the Awakened Bureau, then you'll get a place to stay and food, but you'll get very little choice in what you actually get to do. You won't be doing anything bad, in case you're wondering, it'll likely just be scouting work, or clearing Hells that get too close to the city.
The downside is that you won't be able to challenge higher-tier Hells without approval. You might have noticed while you were out there, but higher-tier Hells are much more uncommon than the lower tiers."
"What are the other options? Is there some kind of freelance work I could do? I'm not really keen on being told when I can or can't grow stronger."
Gid nodded, and it seemed he had the same idea as Rowan. While he would get basic supplies from the city, Rowan had no idea how much work it would take to grow stronger. And even then, with how much they had restricted information, he wasn't too fond of whoever was restricting that. They likely worked for the Bureau, which meant he would be working under them and having to follow their rules.
"Everyone works for the city in some way, because without the help of awakeners, there's not much chance of ordinary people surviving. But, there is a separate branch of the Bureau we can work for. I say 'branch', but it's almost a completely separate entity.
My uncle actually works for that branch as well, and they focus on exploring the world and checking for survivors. It's a lot easier to grow stronger there, because if you find something while on an expedition, you can take it. Of course, there's also a lot more risk involved, and you'll get fewer supplies given to you."
Rowan nodded, processing the information he was getting. Though it seemed more dangerous, the branch sounded much more appealing. While it would likely be harder to get started with the lack of supplies, he could endure a few more months of rations in the complex.
"What about you? Is that where you're going to go?"
"Yeah, my uncle has already been preparing me for it. They have a really strict test to get in, but we should be able to pass it with flying colours. You have your regeneration, which is frankly perfect for long expeditions, and if my mass shifting gets mastered, I'll be quite strong as well."
So there was another test to get in. Gid had said he would likely get in because of his regeneration, but if it was strict on their knowledge as well, he would likely have to prepare a lot in order to pass it.
'Might as well get information while I can, plus it's quite nice talking to Gid. I wouldn't mind keeping him around, and he seems to be much the same, thankfully. Hopefully, we can both get into the branch and work together.'
"I've been meaning to ask, what are the stages beyond mastery? I've mastered my regeneration, but it's showing something called 'understanding' now. Is that the end, or does it keep going?"
Gid smiled, looking pleased that he could be of more use to Rowan.
"My uncle- oh, his name's Thomas, by the way- said that it has three stages, mastery, understanding, and control. He didn't tell me what each stage did immediately, but I've managed to coax it out of him over the years."
He shared a cheeky grin with Rowan, which Rowan couldn't help but return. Gid was a really charismatic person, and Rowan was liking him more and more.
"Mastery is about learning to use your ability yourself, which I thought sounded simple at first, but I still haven't figured out how to do less weight shifting, only double or half. Understanding is apparently just proficiency, in learning how to use your ability manually.
Control is about manifesting your ability in different ways. A good example would be your warmth, you could probably make areas colder around you, by removing warmth rather than creating it. Apparently it's different for every ability, but you should get an understanding of how your control works in the understanding phase."